Friday, August 11, 2017

More Harvey's Coming to Florida

Some more stale news out of Southeastern Grocers: SEG opened 7 new Harvey's stores on August 2nd, most of which were in Central Florida. All 7 stores were former Winn-Dixies that were remodeled to the Harvey's format. The 7 new locations are as follows:

I visited one of these new Harvey's stores the other day, and I really didn't think it was anything too fantastic (as SEG is making these new Harvey's stores out to be). The place still felt like an old Winn-Dixie, just painted yellow now with a large dollar aisle (which was the highlight of the store). But anyway, I got a lot of photos of that store to share in a full blog post at some point, where you can see for yourself what the new Harvey's is all about. And I'm certain more Winn-Dixie and BI-LO stores will convert to the Harvey's banner in the coming future, that is unless SEG's new CEO decides to take the company on an entirely new route. Anyway, for more on the 7 new Harvey's stores, The Shelby Report has a good article on the conversions that you can read here.

9 comments:

Yeah. That one in Ocala that I pictured recently is one I kind of wanted to visit, but I may not be in too much of a hurry to see a Harvey's. After looking at the photo from the Shelby report, it doesn't look like a store that I will find too exciting either. With all of that school bus yellow, it reminds me of an over-sized Dollar General!

If you're even in or passing through Ocala it's probably worth it to stop in and experience what the new Harvey's stores are all about, but I didn't see it as a store that I would go out of my way to shop at. I'd say Harvey's is a bit better than a Dollar General, but the color scheme of the decor probably could have been tweaked for sure!

I think they should have used the Save Rite banner for this too, rather than changing the established Harvey's banner around. I'd bet Winn-Dixie still owns the rights to the Save Rite name too, and I didn't think the Save Rite brand was that tarnished either to where they wouldn't want to reuse it.

I am looking forward to the post on these Harveys. The yellow is a bit much, but at least they are doing something different and trying to stay alive, instead of the same old thing. Couple of things I am curious about--are they removing or reducing the service departments and removing some of the variety? (a la Food Basics)? In that photo from The Shelby Report, it looked like Seafood was all freezer doors (or maybe those are windows). Meat seems like it's still prepared in-store, since they still wanna be better than Walmart, but is there a service deli and bakery still? Is there really a significant difference between these and the Fresco y Mas stores?

They really should have toned down the yellow to a darker shade - it's very bright and overwhelming when you're walking around the store. My main concern with this new Harvey's format is that Winn-Dixie tried this vary same concept prior to their bankruptcy with their old Save Rite discount brand - converting some of the weaker stores to a discount brand and hoping it increases business. It didn't really work back then, so I'm not sure if it will now, but time will tell on that end.

As for your questions: At the Harvey's I went to, the bakery was completely removed, with the only baked goods being prepackaged "thaw and sell" type items and a large wall of white bread. However, there was a sign saying they will take custom cake orders. I assume if one places a cake order, the order is sent to another nearby Winn-Dixie with a full bakery for fulfillment, with the cake then sent over to the Harvey's for pickup. The deli is still a full service deli and still offers the limited prepared foods offerings most older Winn-Dixies have (like the fresh fried chicken assortment). The meat and seafood counter was removed and replaced with freezers, but I think they still have butchers on staff as they had all kinds of signs advertising custom cuts upon request. The Meat department is the one department Winn-Dixie takes a lot of pride in (they are "The Beef People"), so that's one area where they wouldn't skimp. There is a bit difference between Harvey's and Fresco y Mas. While the two stores use the same decor and price strategy, Fresco y Mas has all full service departments (including a full bakery, deli, and cafe with prepared foods, as well as meat and seafood counters, while Harvey's only has a deli counter, for the most part). Fresco y Mas also has a much wider variety of Hispanic foods. Harvey's only had a small assortment of Hispanic foods in their international section.

Thanks for all the info AFB! The reflection from the garish shade of yellow even changes the way the food looks in those photos. It is certainly doesn't seem like a very wise choice.

Everyone is bracing for The Lidl onslaught and the lowered Walmart prices that Lidl and Aldi are causing...and I guess they are trying the “limited-assortment-lite" model. As Americans get more comfortable with limited assortment concepts, maybe the hope is that these will do a little better. When A&P first brought the German PLUS concept into the US in the 80's, people outright rejected it, but now we have Save-A-Lot, Aldi, and Lidl. In addition, Wakefern, Kroger and HEB all have their own limited-assortment concepts, so maybe they are giving it another go. How long ago did they try SaveRite? And was it just in Florida?

I was wondering how truly limited the assortment was, but doesn't seem like they have removed many SKU's. With more competition coming to The SE, And SEG being the weakest operator there, they are bound to be the most affected, unfortunately. These stores may have likely been closed had they not been converted. The converted Bi-Lo store in Charlotte (from your linked article) probably has an uphill battle. Bi-Lo is a pretty conventional operator, and I can imagine that many Bi-Lo customers are not gonna stick with Harvey’s, so they will need to attract some new customers to be successful, and Charlotte is such a competitive market already.

Save Rite was first introduced around 2000-2001 (so it was still rather modern), and had a presence in Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi at its peak. Winn-Dixie converted their entire Atlanta area presence to Save Rite in 2001 to try to save that division, but it failed miserably due to the other competition in the area. Save Rite was essentially dissolved during Winn-Dixie's bankruptcy, although 6 of the 50-something Save Rites Winn-Dixie had prior to the bankruptcy survived. Those last 6 locations were all converted back to Winn-Dixies in 2011, and two of those six have since been rebranded to Harvey's. One has closed outright as well after the conversion back to W-D, and I don't remember where the other three converted stores were located to know their fates. Harvey's still seems more like a conventional supermarket to me than something along the lines of Save-A-Lot or Aldi (or even something like Kroger's Ruler Foods) - Harvey's seems to rely more on a low price marketing and their dollar section rather than an actual discount or limited assortment grocery format, which seems like a weakness to me. Harvey's assortment is pretty much the same as when the store was a Winn-Dixie, so very little was removed (other than those few changes I mentioned in my previous reply). Right now, Lidl has no plans to enter Florida, but they are going into areas where BI-LO currently is, which will hurt the Harvey's stores in the Carolinas (especially in NC, where SEG is especially weak).

About Me

The Albertsons Florida Blog hopes to remember the legacy of one of Florida's fallen supermarket chains through the use of photos, stories, memorabilia, and a very long table of store locations and info. Follow us today and become a member of Team Albertsons! The Albertsons Florida Blog - It means a great post!

Total Pageviews

The Albertsons Florida Blog is not affiliated to and/or endorsed by Albertsons, LLC or their parent company Cerberus Capital Management, LP. This blog is a fan site for informational and historical purposes only, and all photographs and content are not intended to serve as advertisement or comment upon the quality of the stores featured. The operator of The Albertsons Florida Blog strives to have the most accurate information available, but does not guarantee accuracy or completeness of information provided on the blog. If any inaccuracies are found, please contact the webmaster who will gladly make any corrections deemed necessary. Thank you for visiting The Albertsons Florida Blog - It means a great post!